User blog:Leolab/Lyndis' Legion (Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken) v Greil Mercenaries (Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance)
Lyndis' Legion: The band of warriors who threw down a usurper and reinstalled the rightful marquess of Caelin versus The Greil Mercenaries: The band of mercenaries who threw down a usurper and reinstalled the rightful queen of Crimea Lyndis' Legion |-| The Lord = Lyndis Lyndis, also known as Lyn, is the main Lord during Lyn's Tale, where Lyndis' Legion is formed. During this section of the story, she meets the Tactician, Marc, as he is passed out from hunger. She rescues him, and the pair form a fast bond. On her journey to hunt down the Talliver Bandits, however, she is discovered by a pair of knights, who identify her as the rightful heir to the Caelin throne. She makes her way there, gathering allies and fighting off attacks from bandits and later the Caelin army, and eventually defeats Lundgren, her uncle who had usurped her position by poisoning her grandfather. Class: Blade Lord Lyn's special class, the Blade Lord, has many similarities with the Myrmidon and Swordmaster. She has low strength and low defense, but very high speed and skill. What this translates to is that, while she can't take a hit, she can dodge them quite well. Further, while her basic attacks aren't very strong, she has a very high chance of getting a critical hit, dealing massive damage to her foes; she is also capable of striking several times in the space an opponent would strike once. Additionally, her Blade Lord class lets her use bows, allowing her to attack from range. Lyn's combat animations also show that she favors Battojutsu. Weapons Mani Katti: Lyn's personal blade, it is a lightweight katana suited to her fighting style. It has a high critical hit ratio, boosting her already-high skills to immense heights. Furthermore, the blade is also extremely effective against armored and mounted units. Killer Bow: A standard bow that is designed to make landing critical hits easier. |-| The Second = Kent Kent, the more serious of the two Cavaliers, is one of Lyn's chief subordinates, second only to Marc. He was sent by the ailing Marquess of Caelin to find his daughter's family and bring her back. He and Sain came across Lyn, the Marquess' granddaughter, as the only living member of the family they sought out. They escorted her to Caelin, helped by Marc and their allies, and served as royal knights after the Marquess was restored to health and the throne. Kent, driven by both loyalty and a crush on Lyn, rose through the ranks to become knight-commander. Class: Paladin Paladins in Rekka no Ken are extremely powerful and versatile units. Considered "mounted," they are clad in full armor, mounted on horseback, have a kite shield, and wield axes, swords, and lances. They can absorb blows and move around the battlefield with ease, and giving as good as they get. Kent in particular specializes in skill, speed, defense, and resistance, making him an extremely durable and accurate unit, if not the most hard-hitting. He can usually attack multiple times in the space most opponents would use to strike once. Weapons Regal Blade: One of the best swords available, the Regal Blade is durable, powerful, and light. Silver Lance: A normal, high-quality lance. Silver Axe: A normal, high-quality axe. Spear: A normal, high-quality throwing lance. |-| The Flirt = Sain Sain, the more frivolous of the two Cavaliers, is one of Lyn's chief subordinates. He was sent by the ailing Marquess of Caelin to find his daughter's family and bring her back. He and Kent came across Lyn, the Marquess' granddaughter, as the only living member of the family they sought out. They escorted her to Caelin, helped by Marc and their allies, and served as royal knights after the Marquess was restored to health and the throne. Sain, through talent rather than personality, rose through the ranks to become Kent's second-in-command. Class: Paladin Paladins in Rekka no Ken are extremely powerful and versatile units. Considered both "mounted," they are clad in full armor, mounted on horseback, have a kite shield, and wield axes, swords, and lances. They can absorb blows and move around the battlefield with ease, and giving as good as they get. Sain in particular specializes in strength, speed, and resistance, making him an extremely hard-hitting and fast unit, if not the most accurate. Weapons Rex Hasta: The best lance available, the Rex Hasta is durable, powerful, and light. Silver Sword: A normal, high-quality sword. Silver Axe: A normal, high-quality axe. Spear: A normal, high-quality throwing lance. |-| The Veteran = Wallace Wallace is a high-ranking knight from Caelin, dispatched by Lord Lundgren to kill Lyndis, who is stated to be an impostor, and bring Kent and Sain back into the fold. He comes across the party late into their journey, and realizes that Lyndis is not an imposter at all. He joins with her group, and helps her reclaim Caelin from Lundgren. After the battle is concluded, he takes it upon himself to exterminate the Talliver Bandits and fulfill Lyn's need for revenge. Class: General Generals are big, slow, and bulky. They wear heavy armor to tank attacks, and can use lances or axes. Wallace is typical of a general, with high strength, high defense, and mediocre everything else. He can tank physical hits like no one's business, and can deal a good amount of damage as well, provided he hits. Weapons Silver Lance: A normal, high-quality lance. Silver Axe: A normal, high-quality axe. |-| The Healer = Serra Serra is a cleric who joined Lyn's party along with Erk. She had hired the mage in order to protect her on her way to Ostia, when they were attacked by bandits. She joins up with Lyn, dragging her companion with her, in order to fight off the bandits. Then, after hearing her story, her self-proclaimed generous heart could not bear to leave a noble without a favor owed to her. The pair helped Lyn tear down the usurper, and afterwards returned to their travels. Class: Bishop Bishops are incredibly versatile mages, able to heal with staves and attack with light magic. All Bishops have strong magic and resistance, letting them attack with and defend against powerful magic, especially dark magic. Serra in particular is heavily skewed towards using staves, since she is the first staff user you get in the game. She is also very squishy, with low HP and low defense, but has a very high resistance; this means that she can't take a hit from a sword, but can tank magic attacks like no one's business. Weapons Aureola: High-rank light magic, which in addition to dealing massive damage also does additional damage to dragons and dark magic users. Fortify: High-rank healing staff that heals all allies in a fairly large range. |-| The Axeman = Dorcas Dorcas, like most of the crew, joins Lyn's band when she's under attack. Unlike most of the crew, he's part of the bandits attacking her at first. Lyn's crew is attacked at night, and when he realizes they're protecting his wife he joins them in fighting off the bandits he worked for previously. Out of gratitude for protecting her, he follows Lyn loyally. After helping to depose Lundgren, he treats his wife and moves with her to Pherae. Class: Warrior Warriors are big, beefy infantry units. They wield axes and bows, giving them massive damage from up close and the ability to strike from afar. Dorcas has low speed and defense, however, so I tend to keep him focused on axes, using one of the ranged axe options to give him reach. Dorcas also has high strength, health, skill, and luck, meaning he will be able to strike hard and crit often. Weapons Basilikos: One of the best axes available. It's durable, light, and powerful. Tomahawk: A powerful throwing axe. |-| The Girly One = Lucius Lucius joins the party while helping deadweight Nils escape from the Black Fang. Lyn and her group decide to help the boy, and Lucius joins them. He continues to travel with them, moved by their display of compassion where others showed none. Class: Bishop Bishops are incredibly versatile mages, able to heal with staves and attack with light magic. All Bishops have strong magic and resistance, letting them attack with and defend against powerful magic, especially dark magic. Lucius is more specialized in offense, being unable to use staves at all until promotion. Lucius is very much a glass cannon - he has incredibly high offensive skills, and can dodge most attacks, but if he gets hit he will go down hard. Weapons Luce: The strongest light magic spell in the game, with high power and crit. Physic: A ranged staff that heals one ally at a time. |-| The Nice Guy = Matthew Matthew is a thief that joins up with Lyn's group when they are attacked by assassins in Araphen. He offers his lockpicking skills to the group, and also helps with information gathering. He travels with the group afterwards for reasons of his own. Said reasons are later revealed to be that he's a spy working for Ostia, another nation in the Lycian League, and is supposed to determine whether or not Lyn's claim is genuine. He finds that they are, and convinces the Marquess of Ostia to lend political support. Class: Assassin Assassins in Rekka no Ken are fast. They are able to dodge most attacks, and are able to strike multiple times as well, with a high critical hit chance. Their main flaws are that their defenses are practically made of paper and that they have low strength, which Matthew has even worse of. This is made up for by the fact that Assassins have a 50% chance to instantly kill their foe upon a crit. Weapons Killing Edge: A sword designed to make inflicting critical hits easier. Assassins and Theives somehow make the sword into two knives instead. Don't ask how; I don't know, either. |-| The One With Purple Hair = Erk Erk, the foster son of the Etruian Mage General Pent and the heir to his countship, is a mage who joined Lyn's party along with Serra. Serra had hired the surly mage in order to protect her on her way to Ostia, when they were attacked by bandits. Erk was dragged into Lyn's group by his employer, first to help fight off the bandits and then to help save the young woman's grandfather. The pair ultimately helped Lyn tear down the usurper, and afterwards returned to their travels. Class: Sage Sages are powerful casters, able to both kill enemies with spells and heal allies with staves. Erk himself is squarely average, save for his high speed. He's able to cast multiple spells in the time it takes most foes to strike once, and they hit with... average might. Honestly, I love Erk for his dialogue, but there's really nothing special about him as a caster. And I can't pad this any more. Weapons Exaclibur: High-ranking Anima magic. The spell is powerful, though its tome apparently weighs as much as a steel lance. Physic: A ranged staff that heals one ally at a time. |-| The Quiet Archer = Rath Rath is a Sacaean mounted archer who helps the group when Lundgren attacks Araphen. After they save the castle - and after he witnesses Araphen' Marquess' racism against the Sacaean people - Rath joins up with the party to help them take down the usurper. After their success, Rath leaves, silent as ever. Class: Nomadic Trooper The Nomadic Trooper can be considered the prototype for the Bow Knight class. They use swords and bows, have high skill, and high speed. Their strength is good, but it's not where they excel. Nomadic Troopers are good at dodging, have high mobility, and can critically hit quite well. Rath is fairly typical for his class, with the exception of high strength. This makes his normal blows and critical hits hit much harder Weapons Reinfletche: The best bow available. Powerful and light, it's ideal for any archer. Killing Edge: A sword designed to make inflicting critical hits easier. |-| The Young Archer = Wil Wil, like the rest of Lyndis' Legion, joins the band while under attack. He sticks with them to fulfill his dream of being a mercenary. There's honestly not a whole lot else to him; he's a nice guy, a chatterbox, and an archer. Class: Sniper Snipers are the infantry bow units. They are not very mobile, but hit hard. THey tend to have low defense, but high avoid. Will in particular has high strength and health, allowing him to soak some of the hits he can't dodge, as well as high skill, allowing him to crit more often. He has low speed and res for his class, however, which means he can't avoid as much damage and will take more from the hits he does take. Weapons Longbow: A bow able to hit from a longer range than most. Greil Mercenaries |-| The Lord = Ike Ike is the leader of the Greil Mercenaries, inheriting the job from his father, Greil. He leads the band through the Crimean Liberation under the employ of Queen Elincia. He takes them through Crimea and Bengion, bringing wayward members back into the fold, and ultimately helps Elincia in driving Daein's Mad King Ashanrd off of the Crimean throne, killing the usurper. He reinstalls Elincia and leaves, studiously ignoring the new queen's crush on him to the very end. Class: Lord Ike's variant of the Lord class has a lot in common with the Nercenary and Hero class line, with the exception of being restricted to swords. This version has no real weaknesses, but no real strengths, either. Ike himself has solid stats all-around, with the exception of Luck. He has high health, defenses, and strength, allowing him to take most hits and deal out a bunch as well. He's more likely to get struck with a critical hit, however. Weapons Ragnell: A massive sword blessed by the Goddess. It's supposed to be wielded with two hands, but Ike is too manly for that and can use it like a one-handed sword. It can attack at range, using a pressure wave. |-| The Second = Soren Soren is the taciturn and moody tactician of the group. Soren is a Branded, meaning he's the result of a Laguz (people that turn into animals) mating with a Beorc (a human). In exchange for having a longer lifespan and special powers - in this case an increased affinity for magic - he faces extreme discrimination from human and Laguz alike. Said discrimination was so severe that he was not even given food or shelter in Galia, a prominent Laguz nation, with people simply passing him by as he was starving in a ditch. Ike saved him, and thus earned his undying loyalty. Once reunited with his savior, Soren provided plans and tactics, often favoring a ruthless and pragmatic approach to the group's activities. Class: Sage The Sage class in Path of Radiance is capable of using all three kinds of Anima magic. In Path of Radiance, Anima is split into thunder, wind, and fire rather than being all three collected like in prior games, with the addition of a new weapon triangle (Wind > Thunder > Fire > Wind) for Anima magic. Sages can also use staves or knives; Soren uses staves. Soren is very much a glass canon, with high magic but low defense, even amongst other Sage classes. His speed is high, allowing him to avoid attacks, but anything that hits him will hit hard. Weapons: Tornado: The strongest wind magic available to Soren. Wind magic has low power, but is very accurate. Physic: Heals a single ally in range. |-| The Flirt = Gatrie Gatrie is one of the original members of the Greil Mercenaries, and one of the few who work well with Shinon. Gatrie is a massive flirt, and will try to hit on any woman he sees. Given his naivete, this tends to land him in trouble, especially when he tries it with the Laguz units. Gatrie leaves the Greil mercenaries after Ike inherits command, believing him to be too inexperienced. He latter rejoins the group after Astrid, his latest unrequited love and employer, helps the group while under attack by pirates. Seeing that Ike has grown into command, he rejoins the company on a permanent basis. Class: General Capable of using lances and swords, Generals are physical walls. They have high defense, HP, and Strength, allowing them to take physical blows. Their weaknesses are their low speed, resistance, and mobility. They can't dodge most attacks, so anything that will get through their defenses will hit them, they can't tank magic attacks, and they can't catch more mobile units. Gatrie is very typical of his class, with no unusual stats. Weapons Silver Lance: A very powerful lance. Nothing special. Silver Sword: A very powerful sword. Nothing special. |-| The Veteran = Titania Titania was Greil's second-in-command, and was in love with the man. Once Ike takes over from his father, she shares the position with Soren. She is steadfast and loyal, and acts as an advisor along with Soren to Ike. She takes a more idealistic outlook, balancing Soren's extreme pragmatism with compassion. She serves as a mentor for Ike, helping him get the hang of running a mercenary company. Class: Paladin Paladins in Path of Radiance are highly mobile units. They are more useful for support than as frontline units in this title, especially with the Tellius version of Canto allowing for more effective hit-and-runs. They utilize two weapons, with their primary determined by their base class and a second chosen upon promotion. Titania is typical amongst Paladins, though slightly weaker than others in Path of Radiance. She has a higher Resistance than normal, making her a good mounted magekiller, and completely invalidating the existence of Pegasus Knights. Weapons: Poleaxe: An axe with a long handle, which does extra damage against mounted units. Spear: A throwing lance. Nothing special about it. |-| The Healer = Rhys Rhys joined the Greil Mercenaries when he chances upon an injured Titania, healing her and helping her recover. He joins as part of the Mercenaries under Greil, and continues to serve under Ike. Rhys is sickly and frail, without much physical strength and prone to illness. Regardless, he is steadfast and loyal, and very idealistic. Class: Bishop Bishops are incredibly versatile mages, able to heal with staves and attack with light magic. All Bishops have strong magic and resistance, letting them attack with and defend against powerful magic, especially dark magic. Rhys has good resistance and magic, letting him deal good damage and heal. His physical stats are... lackluster at best. His physical condition is poor, which manifests in a low defense, skill, health, and speed, even for his class. He's decent against mages, and an amazing healer, but needs protection badly. Weapons Rexaura: Strong light magic. The tome is fairly light, and helps shore up his defense... somehow, but Rhys is also physically weak, so it slows him down anyway. Physic: Heals a single ally in range. |-| The Axeman = Boyd Boyd is the middle of the three brothers, older than Rolf but younger than Oscar. As Ike's rival (self-proclaimed), best friend (also self-proclaimed), and future brother-in-law, he is steadfastly loyal and always looking to better himself and best Ike in combat. Class: Warrior Warriors are big, beefy infantry units. They wield axes and bows, giving them massive damage from up close and the ability to strike from afar. Boyd has high HP and Strength, allowing him to hit hard and take hits. The rest of his stats are average, but where he really shines is his synergy with his brothers. If he, Oscar, and Rolf are in attack rang while surrounding an enemy, they can perform a Triangle Attack - basically all three of them strike at the exact same point, giving an automatic critical hit. Weapons Silver Axe: An ordinary, powerful axe. What the hell is it with Silver in FE universes being strong, anyway? Silver Bow: An ordinary, powerful bow. Let's ignore the fact that a bow made entirely of silver would be difficult to bend, because Fire Emblem does, too. |-| The Girly One = Mist Mist is Ike's younger sister, and th current keeper of the Fire Emblem. She has "order and chaos balanced in her heart," whatever the hell that means, and is the only Beorc alive able to hold the medallion without going violently insane (or, in some cases, more so). She initially acts as a camp follower, preparing meals and the like. She later pesters Rhys to learn how to heal, and joins the Greil Mercenaries as a combatant wielding a staff. She somehow learns to both ride and use a sword, and later joins Ike in his fight against the Black Knight. Class: Valkyrie A mounted healer, Mist's variation of the Valkyrie class can also use swords. Valkyries, like most mages, have good magic but low defense. Where Valkyries shine, however, is their movement capability. THey can easily keep up with otehr mounted units, and can also quickly head to the aid of allies farther out. Their strength as a healer is average, but their tactical value is high. Mist in particular s physically fragile, with low strength and defense - this means that she will be slower on the attack with most swords, and relies on the magic swords to deal damage, and will melt if a physical attacker gets in range. Despite having a horse, Mist does not count as a mounted unit for bonus damage. Hell if I know why. Weapons Runesword: A sword that does magic damage. It has the same effect as the light magic Nosferatu, in that it deals damage and heals the user for the damage dealt. This weapon is single-handedly responsible for Mist's viability as a unit. Physic: Heals a single ally in range. |-| The Nice Guy = Oscar The eldest of the three brothers, Oscar resigned from the Crimean Knighthood to care for them after their father died and his wife ran out on them. Greil recruited the three into his mercenary band, and Oscar served loyally since. Oscar was skilled not only in combat but in caretaking, and he was the original cook for the Mercenaries until he started teaching Mist. Oscar is pretty chill and steadfastly loyal, not once questioning Ike's abilities or fitness for leadership. Class: Paladin Paladins in Path of Radiance are highly mobile units. They are more useful for support than as frontline units in this title, especially with the Tellius version of Canto allowing for more effective hit-and-runs. They utilize two weapons, with their primary determined by their base class and a second chosen upon promotion. Oscar takes bows, allowing him to perform a Triangle Attack with his brothers; this gives them an automatic critical hit when surrounding an enemy in attack range. Oscar, further, has high HP, Speed, and Skill, making him the exception to Path or Radiance's rule; he's an incredibly capable frontline unit, able to murder faraway foes and retreat back to defend the party's mages. He was my third-best unit in all my playthroughs, lagging behind only Ike and Ilyana. Weapons Wishblade: A powerful lance looted from the corpse of Daein's General Bryce. It sligltly boosts the user's critical hit rate and also makes them more lucky. Silver Bow: An ordinary, powerful bow. |-| The One With Purple Hair = Mia Mia was a mercenary hired by Crimea when Daein invaded. She was captured by Daein's soldiers, but Greil freed her. She comes across Ike as he is fighting off a Daen contingent, and joins his group. She is a quirky, energetic, and incredibly skilled woman; she started training as a swordsman because she got tired of men trying to tell her to stay in the kitchen. She cares only about getting into a good fight and getting better with the sword. Class: Swordmaster Swordmasters are highly versatile infantry units. THey lack in defense, but have high speed and skill; they're able to strike fast and have a high critical chance, which makes up for their average strength. Mia has the typical strengths of a swordmaster, though she has more speed than normal. She's an evasion-based fighter, and performs remarkably well on the front lines. The enemy can't kill what they can't hit. Weapons Vague Katti: Following the trend set by Lyn and the Mani Katti, the Vague Katti is a powerful sword that increases crit chance and defense. |-| The Quiet Archer = Shinon Shinon is a fucking asshole. An arrogant twat, he is nevertheless the most skilled archer in the group. While he idolized Greil, he believed Ike to be nothing more than a foolish child and left after Ike was given command. Later in the story, after his protegee, Rolf, ran into him working as a mercenary for Daein and Ike subsequently beating the shit out of him, he re-joins the group. He's still an asshole, but he's an asshole under your command now. Class: Sniper Snipers are the infantry bow units. They are not very mobile, but hit hard. They tend to have low defense, but high avoid. Shinon has low strength for his class but high HP, meaning that he won't hit as hard as, say, Rolf but can take more damage. Weapons Double Bow: A special bow that has double the range of other bows (Hits 4 spaces away rather than 2) and increases the user's strength. |-| The Young Archer = Rolf Rolf is a young boy around Mist's age, and the youngest of the three brothers. He learned how to shoot a bow from Shinon before the latter left the Mercenaries, and later joins the Mercenaries as a full combat member alongside Mist. He is determined to help his surrogate (and actual) family, though war and his eventual desensitization to it scares him. Class: Sniper Snipers are the infantry bow units. They are not very mobile, but hit hard. They tend to have low defense, but high avoid. Rolf if fairly typical of his class. Not much else to say here. He can perform a Triangle Attack with his brothers if they are all using bows in bow range, which is an automatic critical hit. Weapons Rolf's Bow: A bow custom-made for Rolf by Shinon. It's light, easy to use, and decently powerful. Notes Battle Notes *The Weapon Triangle from the Elibe games will be in effect. There are two triangles: **Weapon Triangle: Swords > Axes > Lances > Swords **Trinity of Magic: Light > Dark > Anima > Light **Affects hit rate, not damage *This is not going to be a gameplay-style fight. While mechanics like critical hits and such will occur, due to having similar mechanics, think of this as actual combat rather than turn-based gameplay. *Units with horses will have them. Jesus fuck, Cfp, why the hell do I need to say this? **For clarity, those units are: Kent, Sain, Rath, Titania, Mist, and Oscar Voting Notes *This is an 11-on-11 battle, not a group of 11 one-on-one fights. Please keep this in mind as you vote. *Votes with good edges or at least 10 relevant sentences count as a full vote *Votes with meh edges or at least 5 relevant sentences count as a half vote *All others count as no vote *Well-reasoned rebuttals can lower the count of a vote by half. *Well-reasoned counter-rebuttals can restore the half-point. *I have the final say in how much a vote counts for. If I feel a vote merits counting differently than these guidelines, I will do so. *Voting ends when the battle is written. Battle Prologue: Pegasus Knights Aren’t People “We’re almost at Castle Caelin,” Lyn says, surveying the lightly-forested area in front of her, alongside Marc and Kent. “Be careful. We don’t know what final surprise Lundgren might have for us.” “Umm…” a timid voice pokes out, “I… can help scout…” a short, lilac-haired woman peeks out from behind a tree, flinching back as the two men meet her gaze. “That’s a good idea, Florina,” Lyn says, turning and smiling at her friend. The skittitsh woman nods eagerly and retreats, readying her lance and Pegasus. “She’ll never get used to men, will she?” Kent asks, looking fondly at the woman. “It’ll be hard to integrate her into the Caelin Knights if she doesn’t,” Marc says, “And that would be a waste of her talents and your friendship.” The three keep a close watch on Florina as she soars into the sky, ready to rush to her aid if need be. ---- “Have I mentioned that I don’t like this?” Titana grumbles as the Greil Mercenaries move through a foreign land. “Many times,” Soren says, “Waste of breath, since it’s not like we have much choice.” “I don’t like it, either,” Ike says, “But the Black Fang has pledged to return us to Tellius if we finish the contract. Protecting a noble from a usurper is in line with what we’ve done before, too.” “True enough. And it seems the enemy has sent a scout,” Titania says, pointing at the Pegasus Knight flying in the sky above them. The scout notes their presence, and Titania gallops off to fetch Shinon. “Sorry, Ike,” Soren says, and casts Tornado as Florina turns around. The wind magic severely injures her, and she drops out of the sky. Shinon finishes the unfortunate woman off, firing an arrow straight through rider and mount as she drops. Ike frowns at Soren, and then calls the Greil Mercenaries together with a shout. Their foes had spotted their attack, and were charging their position. Category:Blog posts